


Operation: Love Life

by Larxicana



Category: Naruto
Genre: Before Shippuden, Humor, M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 06:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8194376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larxicana/pseuds/Larxicana
Summary: When Iruka-sensei gets a surprise gift of roses during class, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke take it upon themselves to figure out who the mysterious person is and make sure they're worthy of their sensei.





	

“Now I want all of you to take out your textbooks and turn to page twenty-five. I’ll go over it with you then you’ll have to write a short essay on everything we covered.”

The class groaned as they shuffled to pull out their books from their backpacks.

“Man this is so lame!” Naruto complained loudly, tossing himself down across the desk he and his teammates were sitting at near the back. “Why do we have to read from books? We’re ninjas in training! We should be learning cool fighting techniques or something! Not writing _essays!”_

“Stop complaining.” Sasuke told him as he lazily glared over at him. “No one wants to hear you whining.”

Naruto sat up and glared back, “No one was talking to you!”

Sakura sighed and grabbed Naruto’s shoulder to turn him back around. “Just calm down, Naruto. It’s just a little essay. Not a big deal.” Her words did nothing to brighten the blonde’s mood. Instead he just tossed himself down again and whined. Sakura rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her book.

At the front of the class, Iruka had turned to write the chapter title on the board. “This chapter will be covering stealth and why it’s the most important tool a ninja can learn. With a proper stealth technique, you can easily sneak up on your opponent and take them by surprise. Perhaps even turning the tides of the entire fight.” He set the chalk down in the tray then turned to his class. “Now, can someone give me an example of-…”

A sudden knock at the classroom door interrupted him. He looked up as a man poked in head in, “Umino Iruka?” he asked.

Iruka nodded and crossed his arms, “Yes? Is this important? I’m in the middle of a class.”

“My apologizes sir, but I have a delivery for you.” The man opened the door all the way and walked in with a large bouquet of roses that he had to hold with two arms. The whole class gasped and started to murmur to each other as the man handed the bundle off to Iruka.

The instructor’s eyes widened at the sight of the flowers. “Oh my. Um, thank you.” The man tipped his hat before leaving, closing the door behind him.

Naruto grinned and sat up, pressing his hands into the desk. “Who’s it from, sensei?!” He asked.

Iruka turned awkwardly and set the vase on his desk, sighing when it was finally out of his grasp. He dug through the flowers until he found the card and opened it. Naruto watched as his teacher simply smiled, blushed a little bit, then put the card back into the flowers. “Alright, alright. That’s enough of that.”

The class whined, with Naruto being the loudest. “Aww come on, sensei! Who’s it from?”

“Now now, last I checked, this was a class about ninja arts, not my personal life.” Iruka smiled and picked up his copy of the textbook. “Now, where was I?”

Naruto pouted and flopped back in his seat. He was quiet for a moment while their instructor read from the book, but then quickly turned to his friends. “We have to figure out who those flowers are from!” He whispered, looking determined.

Sasuke looked bored as he held his chin and rested his elbow on the table. “Why do you care so much?”

“You idiot, this is our sensei! He’s always been there for us no matter what, now we have to be there for him!” Naruto balled his hands into fists, “What if this is some crazed secret admirer who’s going to come and kidnap him in the middle of the night while everyone’s asleep?”

Sakura gave him a look, “Naruto be realistic. Iruka-sensei is a top notch ninja. Do you really think someone could just kidnap him in the middle of the night with no one noticing?”

“It could happen!” The blonde insisted. “Ok look, maybe it’s not a crazed stalker, but what if it’s some asshole? Like, Iruka-sensei is seeing some asshole and doesn’t even know he’s an asshole because he’s blinded by _feelings_ or something!” His teammates continued to look at him like he was crazy, which caused the boy to wiggle in his seat. “Guys come on! We’ll never know if we don’t figure it out! Don’t you want Iruka-sensei to be happy?”

Sakura and Sasuke glanced at each other, sharing a look before both sighed. “Alright, fine.” Sakura agreed, but quickly held up a finger before Naruto could get too excited. “But this isn’t turning into a thing, ok? This is Iruka-sensei’s personal life. We can’t poke around too much.” Naruto grinned and nodded eagerly as he giggled under his breath, pressing his hands to his mouth.

After class, the three lingered behind as the rest of the class filed out. First things first, they would check the card that came with the flowers. It should have a name on it. If they didn’t know the name, they would search for that person and make sure they were good enough for their sensei. The three approached the desk at the front of the class and handed in their papers once everyone was gone.

Iruka smiled at them, “Thank you. You three have a nice day. Try not to get into too much trouble.”

“Iruka-sensei!” Naruto suddenly shouted, holding up his hands. “I have a question!”

The teacher’s eyes widened at his outburst, “Alright alright, no need to shout. What’s your question?”

Naruto suddenly froze, his eyes going wide. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Uh…”

Sakura jumped in to save him, “He’s confused about shadow clones!” She put a hand on her teammate’s shoulder and motioned to him with the other hand. “You know how he is with his clones. Do you think you can show him yours? After all, you’ve been doing this for a long time, right?”

Iruka rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, yes. But I thought you mastered that technique, Naruto. Your clones are very solid.”

“Uh… they are! But I just love watching other people make clones too! S-so I can improve mine!” Naruto piped up. “Aren’t you always saying that even after school we continue to learn? I wanna keep learning how to make awesome clones!” He reached out and grabbed his teacher by the wrist with both hands and started dragging him to the door. “Come on, please! Just a few? Pleeeeease?”

“Alright, alright! There’s no need to pull! I can show you a few if you like.” Iruka eventually gave, following Naruto out of the class room as the boy cheered.

Once the door was closed, Sasuke moved over to the flowers to dig out the card that came with it. He opened it, but looked confused. He flipped it over, then closed it, before opening it back up again. He looked at Sakura, “There’s no name. Just a heart.” He turned the card around to show Sakura the little drawing.

“That’s weird.” She took the card and studied it herself. “Iruka-sensei looked as though he knew who these were from.” She looked back up at her teammate. “What if Naruto is right? What if it’s some kind of stalker?”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, “Then how would he know who they’re from if it’s a stalker?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he sent him flowers like this before?” She put the card back. “Maybe we should catch this out. Come on, let’s grab Naruto and come up with a plan.”

The two left the classroom and found Naruto outside with Iruka and several clones. As soon as the boy saw his friends though, he released his own clones and hurried off, waving goodbye to his teacher. “Ok thanks, Iruka-sensei! Bye!”

The instructor looked confused as he watched him run off, but sighed and released his own clones before returning to his classroom to gather his things.

Naruto followed his friends around the corner of the school building so they could talk without someone over hearing. “What did the card say?” He asked.

Sakura shook her head, “There was nothing on it but a drawing of a heart.”

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his face, “This is stupid. We should just let this go. It’s none of our business and personally, I really don’t care who our teacher is sleeping with.”

Naruto looked at him with big eyes, “How can you say something like that? Iruka-sensei is our teacher! He’s important! You know that if we were in some kind of trouble, he would help us!”

“But he’s not in trouble! He’s dating someone! Why should we even care?”

Naruto glared at him and pressed his lips together as he growled a little, but suddenly, an idea came to him. The look melted into a smirk as he lifted a hand to his chin. “Ah, I see what’s really going on here. You don’t think you can figure out who he’s seeing so you don’t even want to try.” He shrugged and held up his hands. “I should have known this would be too difficult for you. It’s ok, Sasi-chun. You can go home to your bib and high chair while Sakura and I figure this out.”

Sasuke’s attention snapped back to the blonde as he glared fire at him. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.” Naruto leaned into his space. “Run home to your wittle blanky and baby toys.”

The raven haired boy growled then poked him in the chest. “I bet you I can figure out who he’s seeing way faster than you can!”

“No way! I’ll totally figure it out first!”

“I’d like to see you try! I’ll figure it out before sunset!”

“Ha! I’ll find out before noon!”

“You idiot! It’s already three o’clock!”

“Oh. Fine! Sunset then!”

“Fine!” With that, Sasuke turned and jumped up to the school rooftop before jumping to another to rush into town.

Sakura pushed her lips out as she watched him go before glancing over at Naruto. “You were totally baiting him, weren’t you?”

The blonde grinned at her and held up a thumb, “Oh yeah! Come on! Let’s move! We can split up and cover more ground! If you figure it out first, tell me and I’ll do the same! We can’t let Sasuke win!” Naruto turned and rushed off towards town. Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes as she smiled fondly, but quickly followed.

***

Kneeling on a rooftop, Sakura watched as Iruka struggled to walk down the streets with the huge bouquet of flowers in his arms and carry his school bag. The instructor could hardly see around the flowers, which resulted in him bumping into several people, to which he quickly apologized. Sakura watched as he grumbled something under his breath as he moved slowly through the streets.

As he continued, she followed at a safe distance, making sure she was out of glancing range and would duck behind power poles if Iruka turned in her direction. “Poor sensei…” She mumbled to herself, “I wish I could help him carry all of those.”

Just then, Iruka turned a corner, but completely plowed into someone, sending him flying to the ground. Sakura gasped and almost rushed forward to help, but the man he ran into beat her to it.

“Whoa, hey!” Gai shouted as he hurried to catch the vase of flowers before it hit the ground. “Easy there!”

Iruka looked up from his place on the ground and smiled in relief. “Gai! Sorry about that! I can’t see a damn thing with those flowers in my way.” He sat up to pick up the papers that fell out of his school bag.

“I can tell.” Gai eyed the flowers then smirked down at them. “Are these from you know who?”

Iruka rolled his eyes and stood up, “Of course they are. What do you think?” He brushed himself off then looked back up at his friend. “He just can’t be subtle.”

The other instructor laughed, “Of course not! He never can! You should know this by now!”

Sakura’s eyes widened as she watched from her perch. “Iruka-sensei is seeing a guy?”

“Ah, anyways, thanks for the save.” Iruka took the vase back from his friend and shuffled it bit in his arms until he was comfortable with it. “I did not want to pick all these flowers up.”

“Here, let me…” Gai rearranged the flowers so that they were parted down the middle. “There, that should make it easier to see now.” He grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. “You do know that now I’m going to have to get you an even bigger present for your birthday when it comes around. You better watch out.”

Iruka gave him a nervous smile, “Y-you don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I do! I have to outdo your boyfriend in every way! So tell me, is that apartment of yours still leaking? Because I saw this _great_ place just uptown…”

“Oh would you look at the time? I’ve really got to be going! Thanks again, Gai!” Iruka inched around the man, tossing him a smile, before he hurried away. Sakura was right behind him.

***

“Tch! Unbelievable!” Sasuke huffed as he stuffed his hands in his pockets after walking out of the animal shelter he knew Iruka volunteered in. “No one’s saying anything! I know they know who Iruka-sensei is seeing, but they’re not talking! Ugh!” He paused to lean against a wall and crossed his arms. “I’m gonna need a new approach… I need to talk to someone who knows everything and isn’t afraid to share…”

He stood there and thought for a moment, rubbing his chin, until he saw movement. Glancing up, he saw Iruka turn the corner with the huge bundle of flowers in his arms. Sasuke’s eyes widened and he quickly ducked behind a stack of boxes, kneeling down. He watched as the man slowly shuffled back, muttering something under his breath. Sasuke was about to stand and follow him when he got too far away, but paused when he saw Kakashi drop down in front of the man, startling him.

“Kakashi!” He heard Iruka cry out at first, but couldn’t pick up what else he was saying. From where he knelt, he could see both of them talking, but couldn’t make out the words. He would move closer, but he was afraid they would see him. They were both highly trained ninjas, after all. No, he couldn’t move, but what in the world were they talking about? He could see Iruka laugh at something Kakashi said then replied, causing the copycat ninja’s shoulders to shake. Sasuke let out a little growl before he gasped in realization. His Sharingan! He could use it to watch their lips and figure out what they were saying!

Alright, he could do this. Sasuke took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, then opened them again to reveal their red color. He focused on the two instructors, allowing everything else to fall into the background.

“…flew out the window.” Iruka spoke, chuckling afterwards.

Kakashi laughed in return, but Sasuke had a hard time reading his lips with the mask in the way. Thankfully, with the angle he was standing, he cold piece it together. Slowly their conversation started coming through. Surely this would shine some light onto who Iruka was seeing!

Sasuke sat there for a while, until he felt a headache from how hard he had to focus just to read them from this distance. He was about to give up, when something in their conversation caught his attention. He couldn’t suppress a gasp.

***

Sakura followed Iruka throughout the city, until they got close to a collection of apartments she was sure the man lived in. Just then she saw movement above the ground and gasped when she noticed Kakashi walking along the rooftops with his hands in his pockets, watching the same man she was. She ducked behand a wooden electrical pole and peered around the side, watching as the man dropped down and nearly startled Iruka into dropping his flowers.

From her spot, she couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could tell it was a pleasant conversation. The two were laughing and smiling at one another. Sakura smiled at this, glad to see Iruka had so many good friends. She knew his past, and knew it had to be hard for him to make friends at first, but he seemed just fine now.

She continued to watch, shifting a little when she got uncomfortable. Iruka shifted too, trying to get a better hold on his vase of flowers. He gave a halfhearted glare at Kakashi, who just shrugged in return. The copycat ninja then reached forward and took the flowers off the other’s hands, which caused Iruka to relax. Sakura had no doubt Iruka thanked his friend for the help as they turned to continue walking. However, Kakashi’s next action had her gasping in surprise.

***

“Man! It’s alright sunset!” Naruto made a face as he tossed his arms behind his head and kicked a stone as he walked down the street. “I couldn’t even find Iruka-sensei after he left the school! I check his apartment, but he wasn’t there! Man this bites! I’m never gonna hear the end of this if Sasuke managed to figure out who he was seeing before me. Ugh!”

“Naruto!” The blonde paused and looked up as Sakura and Sasuke hurried down the street towards him. “Come on, you have to come to the park with us! There’s something major waiting for you!” Sakura was grinning and Sasuke looked smug as hell.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion at them, “What is it? It’s not another bee hive, is it? Because I’m not falling for that again!”

“No you idiot! Now get moving!” Sasuke to him, motioning him forward. When he didn’t move quickly enough, Sakura grabbed his wrist and dragged him the rest of the way, ignoring his protests.

When the three finally arrived at the park, Sakura dragged Naruto over to the largest tree there, where Iruka and Kakashi were chatting, but paused when the three kids came up to them. “Ok so he’s not going to believe us if we tell him, so you have to!” Sakura said to Iruka, pushing Naruto forward.

The instructor looked a little concerned and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know about this. It’s not something I want floating around the school.”

“Well that went out the window the moment those roses came in.” Sasuke said with a smirk, crossing his arms. Iruka tossed Kakashi a look, who just shrugged.

“What? Tell me what?” Naruto asked, looking around. “What’s going on?”

Iruka eventually sighed and knelt down to be close to eye level with the boy. “Naruto, your friends told me about your little mission into my personal life.”

“What?!” The blond turned to his friends and looked at them with big eyes. “You didn’t! How could you? You betrayed me! We’re a team and you threw me to the wolves!”

“Now Naruto, just calm down.” Iruka held up his hands, “I’m not mad at you, but just so you know, that isn’t something you should be doing. It’s not nice. Sometimes people like to keep things secret because they’re not comfortable with other people knowing.” Naruto puffed out his cheeks and made a stubborn sound. “However, I know you and you’re not going to let this go until you figure out what’s going on, so I’ve decided to let you in on the secret.”

Naruto’s eyes got big in wonder when he said this. “Really? You’re going to tell me the secret to making the best roman noodles in the world?”

Iruka’s head jerked back in surprise, making a face, “What? No! No, are we talking about the same thing here? I don’t…” he glanced at Sakura and Sasuke.

Sakura groaned and slapped the blonde upside the head. “No you idiot! He’s going to tell you who he’s dating!”

“Oooh!” Naruto drew out, but looked just as excited. “Alright! Finally! You could have saved yourself the trouble if you would have just said something earlier, ya know.”

Iruka sighed, “Yes, I know. Silly me.” He rubbed his face then met the boy’s eyes again. “Naruto…” he hesitated, still looking nervous, “I’m seeing Kakashi.”

Naruto stared at him for a long moment before glanced up at his team captain, who pulled his hand out of his pocket to give a little wave. The blonde then looked back to Iruka, making a confused face. “Ok? I can see him too. We all can, right?” He glanced over at his teammates, “You guys can see him too? Yeah?”

“No, Naruto,” Iruka spoke up, putting his hands on the boy’s shoulders to get his attention again. “Kakashi and I are _together.”_

“We’re all together!” Naruto replied, still looking confused. “We’re all standing here! I don’t see what this has to do with who you’re dating.”

Iruka sighed and rubbed his face, “Oh Fourth, give me strength…” he mumbled.

Suddenly Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s shoulder and whipped him around so he could look him in the eye. “Idiot! Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei are fucking!” He shouted.

“Sasuke!” Iruka said in a disapproving tone as his face heated up a little.

Kakashi shrugged, “He’s not lying.” Iruka shot him a fiery glare that caused the copycat ninja to wisely shut his mouth.

Finally, Naruto’s eyes got big as he gasped, “Ooooh!” Then his face twisted in disgust as he looked back at his two instructors. “What?! Ew! Ugh god! That’s disgusting! You’re actually fucking Kakashi?”

“Actually it’s the other way around-…” Kakashi started to say but another death glare from Iruka sent chills down his spine as the feeling of fear had the hair on the back of his neck standing up. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” The silver haired man held up his hands in surrender.

Iruka turned his attention back to his student. “Stop saying that word! It’s not a nice word! Kakashi and I are dating, ok? Yes? Is everyone satisfied, now that I am completely mortified?” He stood up straight again and shot another glare at his partner, pointing at him as he growled a warning. “ _Open your mouth again and you’ll regret it.”_ Kakashi wisely complied.

“Man I can’t believe this!” Naruto made a face and crossed his arms. “I mean, I _guess_ that’s ok. I was afraid you were with some asshole bum. I mean, Kakashi-sensei _is_ an asshole, but he’s not a bum.” He turned to Kakashi and pointed at him as he glared. “You better treat him right, Kakashi-sensei, or you’ll have to answer to me!”

“I’m shaking in my shoes.” Kakashi replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Good! Now if you excuse me, I have to go wash my ears out with soap! Ugh!” Naruto made a little face as he turned and walked away with his friends. They quickly started bickering over who found out first and the events that followed.

Iruka sighed and reached back to tighten his ponytail. “I’m not going to hear the end of this…” Kakashi stepped up beside him and slipped a hand to his lower back, but Iruka slapped his hands away, whipping around to face him. “And you! Don’t touch me! You are in a lot of trouble, mister! What the hell was that?”

“Iruka-…”

“No! I don’t want to hear it! You can take those roses and shove them up your ass!”

Kakashi was quiet for a moment, staring at the ground before he glanced up at his partner. “Will you find them later?”

Iruka’s eyes widened as he saw red. He punched the man across the face, sending him to the ground, before stalking away in fuss, fuming. Now he really regretted telling those kids about his love life, because he would be single come morning.


End file.
